Celebrating Diversity & Success At #Portada2017

Thanks to all who joined us for a phenomenal #Portada17. If you remember nothing else, here are the top three things you need to take away.

The first, and a line that earned much applause during a session: “If you’re not passionate about the Hispanic marketplace, leave.” Our jobs can be difficult, but they are also dynamic, insightful, and rewarding. If you're prepared, here are the rest:

Narrow Focus, Big Impact

When building a campaign, leaders never assume. They analyze detailed consumer research (down to the zip code!), identify demographic data, and are open to realizing new passion points. They develop a single centralized brand message that resonates throughout everything they build. And they aren't scared to take a chance. It’s a symphony where everyone collaborates and nuances are celebrated.

That doesn’t mean you need a multi-million dollar budget. Seek out partners that are good at what they do, efficient, and make sure that the conversation between your companies is open and transparent. Just like a vertical model won’t have the full impact that a multimedia one will, isolating individual efforts also becomes counter-productive. Having multiple agencies at the table creates a small, but healthy, tension that challenges and inspires us to go beyond the norm and build a truly innovative campaign.

Having multiple agencies at the table creates a small, but healthy, tension that challenges and inspires us to go beyond the norm and build a truly innovative campaign.

Focus on targeting the Hispanic consumer specifically, and don’t just translate general market efforts word-for-word. Over 80 million people identify as Hispanic in the U.S., and half of Millennials are not white. Successful campaigns leverage unique, data-backed Hispanic insights into their overall brand messaging to feed into and grow general market efforts.

Grassroots efforts are some of the most authentic ways to target consumers’ passion points. But we can’t simply copy-paste one local campaign to another area. U.S. Hispanics are a diverse group in and of themselves, and one of the best practices when conducting market research is to conduct multiple focus groups in different cities. Hispanics in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles all have different consumption, buying, and media habits (and it’s not always because of their national origin).

Grassroots efforts are some of the most authentic ways to target consumers’ passion points.

The Year of Soccer

The 2018 World Cup is THE chance to cash in on all your previous soccer marketing efforts. Brands must continue to stay relevant and meaningful to consumers in a limited time frame, and last year’s campaign won’t cut it.

The 2018 World Cup is THE chance to cash in on all your previous soccer marketing efforts.

Digital and mobile consumption of the games is expected to increase next year, so fans will partake in events as they happen, on multiple screens. In addition to the time difference, we must be mindful of the space a brand occupies and that placement is as organic as possible.

At the end of the day, fans don’t necessarily care if their team wins or loses. The most important thing is the experience of being part of the game. When a brand becomes part of that experience too, we’ve done our job.

Some companies describe their efforts around sporting events as akin to becoming a media publisher. They anticipate the events of the day and potential moments where they can critically engage fans—a record beat, a brilliant goal, a last-ditch play. The strongest impact comes when we think on our feet and react with fans, like a fan. The brand not only becomes part of the conversation but can even lead it.

Some companies describe their efforts around sporting events as akin to becoming a media publisher.

To do this well, companies need to come prepared with a developed campaign, content, and brand messaging backed by market research. As in all things.

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